Mikelangelo & the Black Sea Gentlemen

October 7, 2016

Last night’s performance by Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen was close to a kind of communal ecstasy – I don’t think I’ve ever seen our festival crowd quite so giddy and exuberant as with this sublime blend of the absurd, even downright silly, and the exquisite, melancholy ache of the minor key. This was the human spirit expressed through a Melbourne-twist Balkan theatrics and some damn fine musicians. I tipped half my glass of wine over the gentleman next to me and he said he didn’t even mind. He roared with laughter, exclaiming with utter delight, “I had no idea what I was in for!”

“Theatre is the reason for living!” a friend of mine dramatically declared after the encores and the slow, reluctant exit. And that did in a way sum up the post-show feeling, that, yes, yes, this is what it means to live: to be over the top and unbuttoned, to be beautifully, creatively, ridiculously human, and to be ravished by the arts.